Friday, October 2, 2020

Tex Morton [NZ] - Discography

Tex Morton 

Tex Morton (1916-1983), country-and-western singer, vaudeville performer and actor, was born on 30 August 1916 at Nelson, New Zealand, eldest of four children of Bernard William Lane, postal clerk, and his wife Mildred, née Eastgate, and was named Robert William. Bobby attended Haven Road and Nelson Boys’ schools and Nelson College. By the age of 14 he had begun his singing career as a busker. Within two years he played in a travelling band, ‘The Gaieties’, and recorded hillbilly songs on aluminium discs; they are some of the earliest songs of this genre to be recorded outside the United States of America.

Lane arrived in Australia in the early 1930s and began performing and working under the name Tex Morton as a tent hand with travelling shows in Queensland. In 1936 he won a talent quest as a singer of country-and-western music on radio 2KY in Sydney; he secured a contract with the Columbia Regal Zonophone label. Recording a series of songs with American settings—’Texas in the Spring’, ‘Going Back to Texas’—he performed in the nasal style of the American hillbilly. His music proved popular on both sides of the Tasman Sea, and he came to be known as the ‘Yodelling Boundary Rider’. Between 1936 and 1943 (when he broke with Columbia) he recorded dozens of songs, many of which outsold in Australia and New Zealand those of established American mainstream popular singers. He successfully toured (1937-41) Australia with a large combined circus, rodeo and singing show. Later in World War II he entertained troops. He also performed with Jim Davidson’s Australian Broadcasting Commission Dance Band and featured in ‘Out of the Bag!’ and ‘Tex Morton’s After-dinner Show’ on ABC radio.



6 comments:

Dave said...

Hi - thanks for the tex Morton posts

Dave

Ozzieguy said...

You are very welcome Dave

GoodMD said...

Thank You so much for sharing.

Ozzieguy said...

You are very welcome GoodMD.
Please enjoy his great music.

Geoff said...

My Grandparents were friends of his parents. When he visited Nelson he would give my Grandparents a copy of his new 78rpm record. They thanked him and put it in the cupboard with the rest. My mother said they hated his music. I'm curious to have a listen. Many thanks.

Ozzieguy said...

Hello Geoff,
Wow, thanks for your message. :-)

Regards
Ozzieguy